FiberTower: Speeding up decision-making with Tableau

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization

Applicable Industries

Telecommunications

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Use Cases

Predictive Quality Analytics
Real-Time Location System (RTLS)

Services

Data Science Services

The Challenge

FiberTower, one of the largest alternative backhaul providers in the United States, was facing challenges in analyzing market data to ensure successful offers to the large cell phone companies it serves. The traditional method of data analysis was time-consuming and inefficient, often taking weeks to generate well-scrubbed maps and recommendations for decision-making. The company was also dealing with large and occasionally impure data sets, making it difficult to visualize and understand the information being considered for decision-making. Furthermore, the company was looking to extend its markets to areas that were traditionally unattractive, requiring a nationwide analysis of potential opportunities.

About The Customer

FiberTower is one of the largest alternative backhaul providers in the United States, serving six of the top eight wireless carriers. The company's business involves serving large wireless carriers with backhaul services, requiring it to analyze various dimensions of information, including geographic analysis and customer data. The company was looking for a solution that could help it make informed and effective decisions quickly and accurately. Dave Holmes-Kinsella, the Director of Analytics for FiberTower’s Offer Management Group, was responsible for analyzing market data to help ensure successful offers to the large cell phone companies FiberTower serves.

The Solution

FiberTower adopted Tableau to speed up its decision-making process. Tableau's ability to handle large data sets and its interactive analysis capabilities allowed FiberTower to make decisions in real time, as opposed to days or weeks. The company used Tableau to analyze and review information, run multiple scenarios quickly, and figure out the best way to tell the story behind the data. Tableau was also used to visually investigate opportunities to extend FiberTower's markets as part of the national broadband initiative's NTIA grant program. The company was able to do this visually, a new approach compared to the traditional method of using spreadsheets or painstaking GIS analysis and map creation by specialized engineers.

Operational Impact

The use of Tableau has transformed FiberTower's analytical approach, allowing the company to perform analysis interactively with stakeholders in real time.
Tableau's scalability has made it easy for FiberTower to analyze large data sets, saving time and improving efficiency.
Tableau's ease of use and administration has made it easy for FiberTower to manage licenses and maintain the product.

Quantitative Benefit

Personnel time saved as a quarter to a half of a GIS engineer's time is no longer required due to Tableau's capabilities.
Significant reduction in decision-making time from days or weeks to real time.